Friday, March 13, 2015

In the country yet again (part 2)

Here is part two of the pictures detailing the interesting sights and things we did during our trip back to the country to visit my in-laws (part one can be found here).

Sunrises and sunsets in the country are peaceful and quiet times when you can really hear nature in all its glory and connect with everything in it. The top picture features the backyard sunset view and at the bottom is the scene inside the house when the sun has just risen. You can never get this serenity living in the city.

All organic matter from around the kitchen is collected in these metal buckets so that they can be used to create compost that is used as fertiliser around the estate. That green packaging quickly biodegrades after being buried and compost is created in a few months by the worms in the bed. The finished product was added to the soil when we were planting sweetcorn (refer to the pictures below).

One of the many tasks we were given was to plant sweetcorn in this patch of soil (where I once harvested potatoes from). It was a 10-step process involving three people as follows: Step 1 – Whinge at the weed-overgrown patch; Step 2 – Loosen the soil so that the weed’s entire root structure can be removed; Step 3 – Removing the weeds (me topless yet again, thanks to Aeroguard); Step 4 – Adding mulch; Step 5 – Mixing in the mulch; Step 6 – First watering; Steps 7 & 8 – Digging shallow trenches (width and distance apart measured) and adding fertiliser (the white pellets); Step 9 – Planting the seeds within the trenches; Step 10 – Final watering. Then only was the job done. Phew! We felt we needed another holiday within this holiday straight after the job.

We went out to buy deceivingly-heavy coiled-up rolls of barb wire to keep out the kangaroos. I felt I couldn’t carry them safely when they weighed that much and so Ision had to carry them all. So it was partly my fault he got hurt from the exercise. Sorry boo!

This is the first house I have lived in with a central vacuum system–impressive to say the least.

That’s another of my photo shoot moment. I simply couldn't help it!

It never fails to warm my heart to see myself amongst the other members of the family. Strangely my brother-in-law’s picture is missing (but his son’s is there).

The size of the land surrounding the house owned by my in-laws is 30 acres and it even boasts a waterfall (not pictured). Suffice to say you are immersed in the thick of nature everywhere you go.

After de-weeding the perimeter of the pond, it was time to feed the fish in it. I am not sure if you can see the tortoise in this clip but there is one.

Can you believe that this was my first time at Bunnings? I was quite impressed with the range of products that were on sale, most of which I will never get to use (or even touch) in my life.

The in-laws gave us a lunch treat just before we headed to the airport where this picture was taken. We will definitely be back again. The longer we wait to revisit, the longer the list of to-do tasks there will be.